


The Crooked Styles

by zalacious



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Horror, Mystery, Original Character(s), Short Story, Suspense, Thriller, cabin in the woods
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-11-29 20:38:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11448645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zalacious/pseuds/zalacious
Summary: Struggling writer, Harry, decides to up and leave the hustle and bustle of New York city to head to his family owned cabin in the woods to draw inspiration to complete his book, unaware of the sinister threats that wait for him there.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the scary version of the nursery rhyme 'The Crooked Man'

Harry opened his apartment door around eleven at night, coming home from the bar after a few drinks. The stale taste of three beers still clinging to the back of his throat and tongue.

After switching on the lounge light, he took off his scarf, smelling the lingering scent of perfume from the beautiful black haired woman he had met and attempted to flirt with. Her brown skin as warm as the fire that was adjacent to them at the bar. He was a terrible flirt, he could admit it. He cringed thinking about it now - he wasn't even able to walk away with her phone number. He groaned audibly, hating that his brain was taunting him with the uncomfortable memories. He placed his scarf on one of the hooks of his coat rack and covered it with his coat next. Soft purrs caught his attention and he bent down to greet his brown and white cat.

"Hello, Liv." He smiled and scratched behind her ear. "Sorry daddy's a bit late." He breathed on her and she scurried away from Harry, hating the alcohol that clung onto him.  
He stood again, rolling his eyes but nevertheless, heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth, wash up and get ready for bed.  
He watched his reflection as he brushed his teeth. He was only twenty-eight years old but felt like the lines on his face had multiplied by ten, his eyes now dark and hooded and his enviable toned physique having long diminished. After rinsing his mouth he turned to the side and took off his shirt, inspecting his stomach.  
Sure he no longer had 'perfect' toned abs but he was still very attractive - just not to himself. He pinched the thin band of fat over his lower stomach and then his small love handles and pulled a face at his reflection.

_What happened, Harry?_

__

\- so much actually.

He had even let his hair grow down to just fall a few inches past his ears. The once luscious locks now flat, greasy and plain sad.

Having enough of looking at himself, he turned off the bathroom light, shut the door and headed to his bedroom. Olivia had already taken her spot at the foot of the bed, busy cleaning her paws before before she would eventually, slowly start to creep up the bed until she's snug next to Harry's chest. He laid in bed for a while, looking around at the navy room, eyeing the sharp angled shadows that the moonlight and furniture created. He turned on his side and thinks that tomorrow will be a better day - a more productive day. See, Harry was a writer who was currently working on his first book. He had gotten to about a quarter of the way through - only to have the plot completely fall apart right before him. Now, he had hit the mother of all writers block with nothing and no one serving as good enough inspiration.  
You would think that living in a city like New York would serve with inspiration hitting you left, right and, centre. The different cultures, people, sights - you round a corner and find something new everywhere you look. But Harry couldn't find a thing when he looked, and now, it was just another night that Harry found himself drifting off into a dreamless unsatisfactory sleep.

***

"I can't decide on egg rolls or pizza."

"We got pizza last week, Niall."

"Okay, but like, Fat Tony's really makes the best pizza around, Haz.... maybe I'll get both, can we make a quick stop at Hwang's?"

"You're a pig." Harry said with an un-lit cigarette in his mouth, fishing for his lighter and then remembering that his other friend, Liam, had taken it last week and not given it back. "Fucking hell."

"It's a sign that you should really quit." Niall said, choosing to ignore Harry's insult.

Harry placed the cigarette behind his ear as the pair walked towards the Italian diner.

"How've you been man?" Niall asked Harry once they sat down, but he was more interested in people walking past the the window. 

He turned to look at Niall who had nothing but patience and care in his sea blue eyes. "I've been fine." Harry said before clenching his jaw. He hated that question.

 _'How have you been, Harry?'_  
_'Are you well?'  
Obviously I am if I'm standing on my own two feet right in front of you this very minute._

____

He took out the cigarette from behind his ear and tapped the butt on the table. "I've just been frustrated lately." He finally said with a shrug. "Book's gone to complete shit."

"Maybe you just need a good lay?"

Harry leaned back in his chair, one elbow over the back rest. He was about to tell Niall that he had been trying to do just that last night and failed miserably but decided against it. "I think I just need to get out of here."

"Where? New York, 'here'?"

"Yea." Harry frowned and shook his head. "It just feels like there nothing left here for me."

"Nah, man. There's a lot here for you, you just need to open your eyes ...." 

Harry drowned out Niall's inspirational speech. "I was thinking about heading to my family's lake house for a while. Maybe the culture shock of leaving the city will do some good for me?"

"So cliché. Make sure you take your typewriter with you, Mr Styles." Niall said, in a mock posh accent, making Harry give him the finger with a slight smirk.

"Haven't been there in years so, hopefully I'll feel ... something."

"Yea... well, can't hurt to try, y'know?"

*

When Harry got home that night, the first thing he did was go on a hunt for those cabin keys he had a copy of. The next thing he did after he found those, was open up his laptop and read through the chapter that he had just written. He would have started this hours ago, but Niall forced him to stay out with him, visit a few more bars and even tried to get him to go to the strip club with him.

_Ridiculous._

__

Harry licked his dry bottom lip.

_This is trash._

__

He tried typing something on a whim. When he reread the entire page, he selected everything and deleted it. He must have done this about three times until he felt like throwing his laptop against the wall and stomping on it. If it wasn't for living in an apartment where the walls were thinner than paper, he would have screamed at the top of his lungs.  
That's it. He had made his final decision. He was heading to the lake house first thing tomorrow morning. He threw his laptop to the side of him, leaving it on the corner of the bed and sunk down onto the mattress. He placed his hands on his stomach and looked at his doorway. Olivia sat just outside his room, staring at him intently.

"Fuck." Harry cursed softly. Hours and hours had passed. "I've forgotten to feed you." He said apologetically and swung his legs over the bed. Olivia suddenly stood on all four legs, her back hunched and hair standing on ends as she hissed at Harry. "What the -?"  
The spooked cat sprinted away, leaving Harry standing in his still and silent room, suddenly feeling very uneasy. Brushing away the feeling, he went to kitchen and got a bowl full of Olivia's cat food and left it on the floor for her.

_03:25_

__

The shadows in Harry's room looked very different tonight. Almost threatening. He turned to lay on his stomach and bury half of his face in his pillow. "Liv?" He called out when his ever so faithful kitten hadn't come to his room yet. He sighed heavily, feeling even more lonely. He looked into the top corner of the room, swearing that he saw a shadow move.

_God, Harry. You're more tired than you know. Sleep._

__

*

"Gemma?"

"Haz! Hello how are y-"

"I'm heading to the lake house today for a couple of weeks - months maybe. Just thought I'd let you know in case mom and dad decide to come over. You can tell them for me?"

"Oh, yea, sure. That's no problem, how ha-"

"Thanks. Bye." Harry cut the call coldly and grabbed his bags. "Olivia?" He called, leash in hand once he had taken all of his bags to his car.

After driving for just over six hours, with one rest stop, Harry had finally reached his destination. He got out of the car, immediately lighting a cigarette - with a new lighter he had just bought. "No one's going to steal this one." He said to himself as he leaned on the hood/bonnet of his car, taking in the sights around him. The scent of pine clung to everything around him. He looked up at the dark green trees that competed with each other to see could be closer to the light blue sky. 

_I could just get lost here._ he though, both literally and figuratively.

He remembered so clearly how he and his family would come to the lake house twice a year to have their traditional family vacations. He could practically see him and Gemma as kids, playing tag, running around the house, slipping down the slopes and hills, just having a good time with each other. He especially missed the late nights when they would sneak out to sit on the porch steps and gaze at the sky, both hoping to spot a shooting star so that they could make a wish.

_"Harry!!" Gemma whispered and pulled on his arm, pointing at the sky. "Look!!"_

__

_Harry gasped when he saw a bright white streak shoot across the night sky._

__

_"Quick, close your eyes and make a wish!" Gemma said, and the siblings both shut their eyes tight and held onto each others hand. Gemma opened her eyes first to see a now still sky again._

__

_"What did you wish for?" Ten year old Harry asked her._

__

_"I can't tell you! The stars will hear and not grant me the wish! You don't tell anyone what you wished for either." Gemma instructed him before leaning her elbows on her knees and gazing dreamily at the flickering dots._

__

"Bullshit." Harry flicked his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out with his boot.mHe grabbed Olivia's cage first, opening it on the ground so that she could finally stretch her feet again. "Don't be an asshole and run off, okay?" He warned her as she strutted on the grass ahead of him. Upon opening the door to the old cabin, he pulled a face. Dust covered every inch of every surface. He screwed up his mouth, telling himself that he'd clean it up tomorrow ...or maybe just as and when he needed.

__

***

__

_20:00_

____

It had been about a week now and Harry hadn't gotten much of his book done - of anything, he actually went back and deleted more of his old writing, leaving him with only a few pages left.

____

_Music. Music is good. It's inspiring. The next best thing after sex_ , is what he always said.

____

He decided on playing some Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of his favourite bands. 'Dark Necessities' filled the entire room in no time in a few seconds.

____

_Yes, this **is** good._

____

Harry smiled and placed his laptop down on the coffee table to go and fetch himself a drink from the kitchen. After getting the bottle of vodka out from the cupboard, he almost dropped it when he peered over the net curtain that covered a little more than half the window that was above the sink. He swore that someone- thing just ran across it, outside.  
Placing the bottle on the counter, he ran back into the living room, shutting his laptop closed and moving to the nearest window to see what the hell was outside. Scared to breathe, he looked around for Olivia before sneaking a quick glance through the window again. He saw her last on the single seater, directly opposite him. "Olivia?" He called in a deep voice, forcing himself to be brave.

____

__Hypothetically, if there was something lurking around, what would be safer, to go out or stay in?

__

"Olivia." He now found himself to be brave enough to pull away from the window and walked around the house, searching for his beloved cat. After checking upstairs he came back down to almost have a heart attack when he saw Olivia perched on the windowsill, staring at him. "Jesus. Where were you?!" He scolded and saw that the window next to her was open and couldn't for the life of him remember if he was the one who had opened it or not or if he had and just forgotten to close it. "Are you fucking running outside chasing rats again?" He asked and picked Olivia up, going back to the kitchen to take a swig of vodka straight from the opened bottle that he had so hastily discarded a few minutes ago.  
With Olivia perched over one shoulder and, the bottle of vodka in his other hand he went closer to the kitchen window to do some inspecting.

__

_Nothing. The trees and shrubs completely still._

____

He looked down at Olivia. "Someone's fucking with me and I think that it's actually me." He said and Olivia immediately released her claws into his chest, the smell of alcohol hitting her square in the face and, causing Harry to drop her. He winced in pain slightly but then got over it when he remembered the felines' poor temperament. This isn't how this trip was supposed to be going. He thought to himself and took another swig of vodka and poured a bit on the small cuts in his chest.

____

***

____

__13:00

__

Harry couldn't focus no matter how hard he tried. As the days went by, he felt more and more drowsy no matter how much sleep he got. But today, sitting at the dining room table, opting to face his back to the window, he actually managed to type a page of work that he was satisfied with. It was off and on for Harry's brain. One day he would do well, the next he would hit a blank. As he moved onto the next page Harry thought that something in the corner of the room had caught his eye. He checked but found nothing.

__

Looking back at his laptop, he jumped, toppling his chair over. He swore that he had just seen a long and lanky shadowy figure in the screens reflection - that must have come from ....the window behind him. Harry spun around, ready to swing at ... nothing. Just a sunny day. "I'm losing my mind." He spoke, running his hands through his hair. Harry picked up the chair but sat in a different one on the side of the table so that he had a good view of not only the room but the window too.

__

***

__

__07:55

On one particular hot morning, he sat shirtless on his bed. So far he had managed to type five pages straight. He hadn't worked this efficiently since ... well, probably since he started this damn book. He slapped his thigh when he felt a needle prick sensation.

Damn mosquitoes.

"Ahh!" He groaned when he heard one buzz past and land on his neck. Another harsh slap of his skin sounded. "Fucksake!" There was just always something. He waited for more parasites to spot and when he found none went back to his work. He twitched when he felt something touch a curl of his, near his ear. He was about to curse again when he realised that there was no buzzing sound to accompany the movement of his hair.

No. Focus on your work. He thought and pulled at his strand of hair.

But his fingers completely stilled when he felt an icy cold hand touch his exposed shoulder. It was a touch as light as a feather, but Harry swore that it was a hand. This time he hadn't jumped because there was a solid headboard and wall behind him and he's adjacent to the doorway.

_Nothing's here._  
_Nothing's here.  
_No one's here.__

_____ _

He placed his laptop beside him and calmly got up, walking to the en-suit to wet his heated face with some ice cold water. His hands shook slightly as he filled the basin up with water. He touched his face and then the mirror. He doesn't know why he did that, but he just did.

_____ _

_This is you, Harry. It's you. It's fine._

______ _ _

Sucking in a deep breath, he held it and submerged his face in the sink, holding it for a few minutes. Just when he was about to lift it up, a hand grabbed at the back of his head, pushing his face down until his cheek pressed against the porcelain. Harry thrashed about, screaming into the water and sucking in a mouthful of it until he flew back, falling on the black tiled floor. He coughed up the water violently and scrambled to his feet, looking around the room like a mad man for the thing that had just tried to drown him.  
He checked the entire house - which was of average size, so he would have spotted something or someone if there was anything (if he was quick and clever enough). He pulled at his wet hair and screamed out loud. An agonising, frustrated and, terrified scream.  
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!"  
Scratches against the wood above him was the answer he got and he raced upstairs. There, he found Olivia in the passage with her paw over a rat. Anger coursed through Harry as he stalked towards his pet, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and lifting her up, thus letting the rat scurry free. He wanted to strangle her. Throw her against the wall. R-

______ _ _

_Harry. Stop._  
_What are you doing?  
_This is Liv.__

_________ _ _ _ _ _

"God," He choked out, tears burning his eyes as the heinous thoughts left his mind. Olivia stared at him, not daring to move as she sensed just how angry her owner was. He gently placed her back down, apologising profusely before running back downstairs.

_________ _ _ _ _ _

***

_________ _ _ _ _ _

Gemma stretched in the drivers seat, her back starting to ache more and more from the long drive. Harry had stopped responding to her texts which she could handle, but when he started to ignore her calls for weeks now, she grew worried and the fact that Niall hadn't heard from him either was the final straw that made her drive out to come and see him even if he wanted to be alone. She parked next to Harry's car, wasting no time to kill the engine and get off, stretching her long legs. "Liv?" She placed her aviators on her head to get a better look at the cat who sat outside the front door. "Aw, babe. What are you doing out here? God, you're a mess?" Gemma said, noticing Olivia's scruffy and muddy appearance. She picked the cat up and tried to open the door, only to find that it was locked. "Has he locked you out here?! The little bast... Harry!" She knocked. "Harry? It's Gemma... Fine." She sighed and got her own set of keys out to open the door. Once open, she let Olivia happily walk in first. "Harry w-" Gemma stood against the door frame, looking at the completely trashed room before her. She frowned and took a small step inside. "Harry?" Her black ankle boots being the only sound against the wooden floor boards. Gemma walked carefully, not being able to tear her eyes away from the mess that the lounge was in. Walking through the entire house, she noticed that all the rooms were like this. Furniture, broken dishes, whatever could be picked up, thrown and broken.

_________ _ _ _ _ _

She stopped at the staircase as something told her not to go up there.

_________ _ _ _ _ _

"Liv. Where's Haz?" She bent to ask the cat who was more interested in preening herself. Gemma got out her phone and dialled Harry's number. A muffled song could be heard coming from upstairs but Gemma waited to see if he would pick up before she moved. When nothing happened she cut the call and phoned her parents, explaining the odd scenario. She then texted Niall to explain it to him too and only once that was done, did she head upstairs. "Harry," Her soft and calming voice bounced off the walls. His bedroom door was open - all of them were, but none of them were trashed, unlike downstairs. She walked into the room and still, there was no Harry. However, she did find his phone as well as his laptop. He would never abandon his phone no matter how far or how long he would go away - no one would - and that's what set of the next set of warning bells in Gemma's mind.

_________ _ _ _ _ _

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she pulled the laptop towards her and turned it on. She also grabbed his phone to see all of her messages and missed calls as well as those from his friends. Once his laptop was on, the first thing Gemma saw was his word document. Specifically, his book that he had been working on. Gemma scrolled and scrolled, reading bits and pieces of what Harry had typed. This was not his novel - at least not what he had so eagerly and cheerfully emailed Gemma months ago to ask of her opinion. Her eyes filled with tears and she covered her mouth as she realised what he had typed.  
His grief, paranoia, and, decent into madness.  
It made Gemma feel uneasy, so much so that she was almost convinced that whatever was 'after' Harry would be after her. She quickly got up, taking Harry's phone, laptop and Olivia before heading out of the cabin. Before getting into her car, she checked Harry's car to find that, just like the house, it was safely locked. A sob ripped through her as she sat down in the safety of her own car. Fear and confusion held onto her like a vice grip. She placed Olivia in the seat next to her and looked around the still scenery. Her shaky hands held her cellphone as she dialled her parents again and then the police. Once done speaking to him she looked through her windshield up dark green trees that competed with each other to see could be closer to the dull grey sky. 

_________ _ _ _ _ _

"God, Harry. Where are you?"

_________ _ _ _ _ _


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't know mum, the whole cabin just gave me an off vibe as soon as I stepped foot in it. I thought someone had broken in because of the mess downstairs but all of Harry's stuff was still there. I don't know where he could be but I know that something's wrong – he would never go anywhere without his phone. Remember he left your birthday party to drive 45 minutes back to his place just to get it? It's not some careless mistake." Gemma cried as she spoke to her mother.

"Gemma, love, calm down. You know how Harry's been with his book and since the accident."

"I know. And that's the sad thing. We _knew_ he had been changing and we didn't do a thing to help him – I'm his sister for God's sake I should have tried harder! I should have been there for him!

Anne was literally shaking on the other end but forced herself to stay strong. "Have the police arrived yet?"

"No. You know how far this place is." She replied in a dull voice and looked around the vast amount of land to see if _anyone_ was there.

"Well, Gem, if they don't arrive in the next half an hour just get out of there and call me when you do, alright?"

"Yea mum, I will. Bye." Gemma cut the call and wiped her tear stained face.

She looked to Olivia who was sitting, content as ever, atop of Harry's laptop. She picked up the cat and looked into her eyes, trying to see if maybe the beloved pet would offer any sort of clue. But there was no fear, no signs of abuse, nothing. She was just incredibly muddy from spending who knows how many numerous nights outside – another thing which Harry would never ever do. Olivia always stayed by his side.

She placed Olivia back down, but not before getting Harry's laptop to look at again. She opened the word document and scrolled past Harry's excerpts for his book that he was working on.

' _Something strange is going on_ ' Harry had typed on a brand new page.

' _I don't know if it's kids playing a prank on me and hiding in the bushes and trees but it feels like someone's outside the cabin at night._ '

Gemma wanted so desperately to investigate, to walk around the cabin and see if there were any footprints or signs that Harry was actually right and someone was after him. But it would be an insanely stupid thing to do, seeing as she's, one; alone and two; wouldn't be able to defend herself against said person... or _thing._

She looked around, anxiously again. She gazed out of the back window, looking into the forest that was not too far behind her and wondered if Harry could have gotten lost in the woods.

 

_"You can't catch me!" Gemma laughed as she ran far ahead of Harry who was trying desperately to reach her so that he could tag her back, but his short legs were no match for her longer ones. She was like a damn gazelle, effortlessly trotting through branches, stone and uneven ground as Harry wobbled here and there._

_"Gem, slow do-_ OOF" _He fell flat onto his stomach, tripping over a tree root that he hadn't seen. Gemma heard the fall and immediately sprinted towards him._

_"Harry?!" she skidded onto her kneed, cutting them up. "Are you okay??"_

_Harry fought back tears as he pushed himself up onto his arms. His chin had been cut open with a small stream of blood flowing down and onto his neck. "I'm okay." He said in a shaky voice._

_"Oh God, I'm sorry, Haz." Gemma said and quickly embraced Harry before they helped each other get back on their feet._

_"GEMMA, HARRY??"_

_The siblings turned their head's in the direction of their names. "Come on," Gemma grabbed Harry's hand and led the way back to their cabin._

_"Are we going the right way, Gem?" Harry asked as he looked around. He would always manage to get himself lost as his bearings were totally of whenever he wanted to play in the woods._

_"Yea." Gemma replied, sure of herself. She had memorised the various trees and boulders they would walk past. One boulder looked like a bear while another like a snails shell. She remembered they would always pass a tree that looked a bit crooked, as if someone had started to uproot it but gave up halfway._

_Harry made sure that he stayed right next to Gemma and held on tightly to her hand with his own. He wiped at his slowly drying blood and hissed at the burning sensation of his wound._

_"Don't touch it, Harry. Your hands are dirty, you could get it infected." Gemma scolded._

_"WHAT on earth happened to you??" Anne asked when her kids finally emerged back on the cabin's ground and out of the woods._

_"Are you guys alright?" Robin too asked, with great concern._

_"We were just playing tag –"_

_"Haven't I told the both of you not to play in the woods by yourselves? You don't know what could be crawling around and could have seriously gotten hurt." She said as she gripped Harry's chin to inspect the damage._

_"I'm sorry mum," Gemma apologised softly. "It was my fault... I just wanted to play tag and we ran a bit too far in."_

_Anne took in a deep breath to calm herself. "Don't go back in there again, okay?" She said in a much calmer voice. "Never by yourselves."_

_Harry and Gemma nodded before they apologised._

_"It's alright, now come on, let's get your cuts cleaned up."_

 

Gemma looked out of her window at Harry's car. She sat up a little higher to see if there was anything out of the ordinary with it.

_Shit._

She should have looked for his car keys while she was in the cabin. She contemplated running back in to get it but couldn't remember for the life of her if it was in his room, or in the mess downstairs. If the latter, then there was no way in hell that she would find anything in that mess – let alone a pair of keys.

' _Someone is fucking with me. I know it. It's not just at night – it's anytime during the day – but it gets worse at night._ '

Chills shot up Gemma's spine as she read her brother's words.

' _It happened again today._ ' Was written on a new page.

Gemma couldn't help but look up every now and then – just to make sure... "Liv, you let me know if there's anyone who tries something, alright." She said to the cat that simply stretched before curling into a ball and closing her eyes. Gemma wanted to leave, honestly she did, but it didn't sit well to just go without knowing where Harry was. This was her best friend, her soulmate – she couldn't leave without some sort of answer.

' _I'm so freaked out that I sleep with the bedroom door locked now. All the windows and doors stay locked._ '

' _It's not everyday, only some days when I get this feeling of...dread?_ '

' _Animals can sense weird shit, right?_ '

' _I should have brought Olivia's leash with me. I'm an idiot. She keeps spending too much time outside._ '

' _it feels like im being watched all the time. Every fucking sound makes me jump – the damn wind gave me a near heartattack the other day. This trip was supposed to help. I just wanted to get away from the fucking city and write and finish my damn book but it's not happening._ '

Three black pages followed and Gemma wondered if that meant that perhaps, three days went by? She shook her head at her desperate theories to try and make sense of things.

' _something tried to rdown me I swea r something reied to drown mr._ '

"God," Gemma breathed and felt her eyes well up again.

' _soemthnng is here, I felt it. I felt it's bony fingers and sharp fingernails I_ '

' _stuff is missing. Don't know if mum robin or gemma took it but stuff is missing_ '

' _1\. Books – nursery rhyme books. Mine and gems that mum would readx to us. Not here. I checked. I ckeched eveyrwehre._ '

Gemma looked up at the cabin. _Is that why he turned everything upside down?? What books were there?_ She wrecked her brain trying to remember what nursery rhyme books her and Harry would read and where they could have been. There was a small bookshelf in the corner of the room, adjacent to the TV – but her and Harry would always leave stuff anywhere around the cabin, not really caring to put it back in its respective place.

' _2\. Glasses. I remember being 12 only 10 now, there were 12 I know ther were 12_ '

"...What?" Gemma frowned helplessly.

' _what if it was in the mirror. Its in the mirror, in the windows_ '

Gemma would have laughed in any other situation. She would have thrown her head back and laughed until her stomach cramped and tears pricked the corners of her eyes. But she just sat still in the deafening silence, reading that sentence over and over again.

_**What** , exactly was that 'something' in the mirror?_

Gemma never took horror movies seriously. Paranormal Activity, Sinister, Insidious, and etcetera – they were all extremely too farfetched for her – and it certainly didn't help that the plots supernatural horror movies had the tell-tale signs of some sort of underlying psychotic disorder.

_"It's delusions, schizophrenic hallucinations, dissociative identity disorder, Christ, maybe they have a gas leak and have carbon monoxide hallucinations."_ There was always something that Gemma managed to scope out in an instance and challenged the theory with her knowledge – therefore never being scared.

It was the first time that she had started to second guess herself – second guess what she knew. She got out her phone and opened the Google app, she stared at Harry's words once again before she typed into the search engine.

'paranormal happenings mirror'

She frowned as she scrolled through the results, skimming through the titles to suss out if they were worth her time or not. She ended up finding more articles by The Mirror than anything else. She decided to type in 'haunted mirror' next, and made the unfortunate decision to glance into her rear view mirror. "Fuck off," She breathed out before she averted her gaze. Now was not the time for her mind to play tricks on her. She shook her head when, yet again, no worthwhile article popped up.

_17:30_

Well over half an hour had passed since she had been here – with still no police in sight. She locked her phone again and continued to read through Harry's ramblings. It would only start to get dark closer to 19:00 _anyways._

' _I almost strangled Olivia._ '

Bile rose up Gemma's throat. This isn't Harry. Not her Harry. He would never, no matter how angry he got – no matter what Olivia did – hell, the most he would ever do is shout at her. He never raised a hand to her or any other pet or person.

' _I need to get out of here_ '

' _im not alone_ '

' _I saw it the other night staringthrough h=the window. It has long arms and this wide mouth - ear to ear- with jagged teeth. It s always getting closer. The lat time it was outside the lounge window, I hear it, I hear what it says t o me_ '

' _I CANT do this anymore_ '

' _im tired of living like this with thi s thing_ '

' _something th_ '

' _jjjjjjjjjjj_ '

Gemma could feel her pulse thumping in her ears. She had started sweating profusely once she finished reading the last thing that Harry typed.

"Ma'am?" A voice said and tapped on Gemma's window, making her yelp and jump. She looked up to see a man in police uniform looking back at her expectantly. How the hell had she not heard him pull up, she looked to the side and saw that he had parked right next to her.

"Sorry," she opened the door and grabbed the laptop – having it die and shut down just as she did so. "No!" A warning for the low battery hadn't even popped up. She begrudgingly placed the laptop down and got out of the car to greet the officer.

Greene. His name badge read.

"Uhm, Gemma," She introduced and extended her hand to greet him.

Officer Greene nodded his head, his messy brown hair bounced ever so subtly. "Daniel Greene."

_He's mighty young. Plus he's by himself_. Gemma noted after she looked at the now vacant police car.

"So there's a missing person, I understand?" He asked, placing his hands on his hips and looked at the cabin.

"Uh, yea, my brother, Harry. He hasn't been replying to my calls or texts for about... two weeks now?"

"Have you been inside?" The ever cool and calm officer asked with a nod of his head in the cabin's direction.

"Yes."

He pursed his lips. She shouldn't have done that; she could have tampered with evidence "Any signs of an intruder?"

"No – I don't know. I didn't really check for anything – uhm, he – Harry – said that there was stuff missing but I don't know if that's true or not?"

"When, how did – "

"He had this document on his laptop where he typed what was going on in his head. He thought that there was something after him."

Greene raised his eyebrows at Gemma as to ask why she's only just mentioned this laptop. "This laptop, the one you were just busy with?" His asked with a slight frown.

"Yes – uh, it literally just died as soon as you knocked on the window."

He pursed his lips, showing slight irritation, "Unfortunate." He mentioned, and Gemma wanted to roll her eyes at him. "Well, I still have his cellphone." She said and went back into her car to retrieve it. "I don't know how much use it will be of since there's a password and it's on what, 15%"

He gave her a wary look. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, wondering if she was telling the truth or not.

"I haven't done anything if that's what you're thinking!" Gemma raised her voice and pointed her finger at him. "This is my brother, alright."

"Ma'am, we get a lot of weird calls from a lot of crazies – "

"Well, I am not a fucking ' _crazy_ '."

Officer Greene sighed and inspected Harry's dying phone. "And you have no ideas what his password could be to unlock it?"

Gemma massaged her eyebrows and held out her hand for the phone. Once back in her possession she looked at the message previews again.

**Gemma (5): I'm coming over the, Haz. I don't ...**

**Niall (3): Harry, what the hell?**

**(646) 665-9088: Hey, Harry. This is Zara, I ...**

**Jaime: Heya Haz, just checking in to see...**

She screwed up her mouth to the side and thought long and hard. _What on earth would Harry make his password, something clever, maybe, or something so easy it would be laughable_. Whatever it was, Gemma had to be careful, because after four wrong tries, it would call for Harry's fingerprint to unlock the phone and not a simple password.

She decided on the cliché ' _password_ ' password – which failed. She shook her head and looked up at the pale blue sky. "I don't know." She said softly as tears pricked the corner of her eyes. "I don't know what it is." She hurriedly wiped at her tears and forcibly pulled herself together.

Officer Greene hummed thoughtfully and looked back at Gemma. "How long has he been out here?"

She frowned at the ground, "I don't know, just over a month?"

"And you're sure that he came out here by himself?"

"Positive... He lost his wife in a car accident just under a year ago and just hasn't really been the same since." 

"I'm very sorry to hear about that ma'am, but what do you mean by; 'he hasn't been the same since,' has your brother ever been a threat to society or himself?"

"No!" Gemma sneered; insulted that such a thing would be insinuated about Harry. "I mean by he was really broken, she was his everything."

"Just making sure, ma'am, we've got to ask these questions."

Gemma knew that and sighed out of frustration. The wind picked up around the pair. A huge gust whistled evilly, as it travelled through the forest making the hair on her arms rise up from fear rather than the cold.

"Well, I'm going to take a look around, it would be best if –"

"I'm coming with." Gemma said already leaning back into her car to pull the keys out of the ignition. She looked at Olivia's still sleeping and unbothered form. It would be safer to just let her sleep, locked in, right? She huffed and grabbed her own phone.

"Ma'am, I really –"

"Listen," Gemma closed the door and locked her car. "I've been waiting here for almost over an hour now for you to show up, and now that you are here, you need to help me find out what the hell is going on and PLEASE stop calling me 'ma'am' I'm not anywhere near 40, it's **Gemma** , alright?"

The officer barely bat an eyelash as Gemma's rant and waited for her breathing to return to normal before he replied. " _Gemma_ , all I'm saying is, is that it would be safer to wait out here if there was someone dangerous in that cabin, I'm just looking out for your safety, alright?"

"There's safety in numbers." Gemma fired back and the young cop bit back from calling her a smart arse.

Gemma followed close behind the cop as he first went to inspect the ground around the cabin. "Think you can make out if these belong to Harry or not?" He asked once they were now at back – outside the kitchen. He pointed to some barely there footprints in the dust.

Gemma inspected them and shook her head. They were obviously old and only resembled a sad excuse of footprints and Gemma couldn't make anything of them.

Greene looked around them, stared into the horizon and fixed his eyes on the river not too far ahead of the cabin. He clenched his jaw and then looked _up_ , up at the monstrous trees that loomed over the serene patch of land.

He cleared his throat and looked back at Gemma again. The pair then made their way to the opposite end of the cabin, where the dining room was and where Harry was seated not so long ago when he first caught a glimpse of something watching him. On the ground, below the window, was the same pair of faded markings of a footprint.

Officer Greene inspected the windows and found them to be securely shut. He grabbed the holster of his gun and took a small step back. "Gemma, I'm going to go in now, I really think it would be safer for you to just go back into your car."

She shook her head 'no' and didn't let the determined look from her face fade before she took a step to the side and silently made her way back to the entrance of the cabin, ready to face whatever it was that was inside.


End file.
